Free Your Frontline Workers to Innovate

Not long ago, I visited a Trader Joe’s in Boston’s Back Bay. As I went to pay for my goods, I found a seemingly endless line for the cash registers. Well over 40 people were waiting to check out. It was “rush hour,” so perhaps I had no right to be surprised. But startled I was — and not because of the line. It was fascinating to see that everyone was in a good mood. There was no complaining. In fact, everyone seemed to think the situation was just fine. These people were chatting happily with one another while they awaited their turn, even though they were a bunch of strangers! And strangers in New England, a region not known for its denizens’ patience, hospitality, and/or predilection for idle chitchat. Where was all this good cheer coming from?

Well, I must confess. Like many people I know, I’m a fan of the chain. Because I’ve been a customer for years now, I remember well when the check-out lines were even slower. There were no UPC code scanners; the cashiers manually entered the prices of each item using push button keys on the registers.

Even then, I never saw a customer upset by the wait time.

The key was the freedom the chain has given its cashiers to be themselves on the job. Granted, these are warehouse stores with great deals on great goods. But what makes them feel different is the friendliness of the people who work there. Trader Joe’s does an amazing job of hiring happy, gregarious, and service-oriented sales personnel. Then it enables them to improvise and innovate while performing their otherwise rote tasks, encouraging them to relate to customers in individualized and often distinctive ways. The result? The chain has created an incredibly compelling human interface for its stores where, arguably, every cashier is an innovator. (Starbucks, too, appears to have embraced the philosophy, as this photo of a Massachusetts barista attests.)

By keeping jobs simple and focused; by equipping associates with (now) state-of-the-art check-out technologies; and by not imposing rules or protocols that would limit how much workers can talk with customers and adapt approaches to service, the chain invites its associates to make the most of their roles “on stage.” What results is friendliness and humor, often combined with unexpectedly generous gestures — giving away balloons to children, hand-packing grocery bags collaboratively with customers, wearing Hawaiian shirts, and so on.

We normally associate innovation with R&D, product and service development, and new “offers” to relevant markets. You might call this “supply-side innovation.” We don’t spend nearly as much time asking how a company — in particular, a consumer-facing company — can engage in “demand-side innovation.” That’s not innovation focused on what a company sells, but on how it sells it. What’s the nature of the interaction between customers and brands? How could such interactions become more compelling over time? What roles might individuals in the middle of large organizations play in addressing these questions?

The fact is most of us in corporate life don’t work on teams inventing the next iPhone or iPad. The vast majority of the workforce is focused in services — a sector that generates 85% of GDP output in the U.S. economy. If we can unlock this vast army of individuals who make their living serving others, then we are talking about a different kind of innovation: It’s one in which every individual worker can play a role.

Interestingly, when frontline service workers are asked to become creative innovators, not just service providers, it ennobles their jobs. That’s what’s made Ritz-Carlton successful in its guest recognition program. The high-end hotel chain gathers information on frequent guests, which is entered into on-site databases, which, in turn, are uploaded to a national database. Whether the individual guest profiles are richly populated or not, however, the very existence of the systems turns frontline service workers into observers, listeners, and students of guest behaviors. Their heightened awareness of guest preferences, which they are encouraged to record on small note pads they carry in their pockets, puts everyone on the front line in a much more credible position to innovate. The hotels equip them with information. But, more importantly, they equip themselves — with a mindset bent on predicting, reacting to, and fixing problems in real time as they happen.

Cashiers, sales reps, customer service personnel, and even coders represent the vast proportion of our economy. Because they’re on the front lines, they’re best positioned to deliver on the promise of demand-side innovation. At a time when it’s become difficult to differentiate just about any product or service for long, this type of innovation is more important than ever.

There are just three requirements for making this work: You have to explicitly free your frontline workers to innovate. You have to recognize and reward such innovation. And you have to make the work seem as fun as working at Trader Joe’s.

Jeffrey F. Rayport teaches as a faculty member at Harvard Business School and serves as a strategic advisor to corporations and private equity firms focused on information, retail, and digital marketing services.

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